Writer Philip Klein: Jews Vote Democrat Despite US Israel Policy

Don't expect liberal American Jews to become Republicans on the basis of President Barack Obama's purportedly chilly treatment of Israel, says Philip Klein, a senior writer at The Washington Examiner.

"As a Jewish conservative, I love nothing more than for my fellow co-religionists to move away from their lockstep embrace of liberalism and the Democratic Party. But the reality is that if you look at actual Jewish voters … most of them don't vote primarily on Israel,'' Klein said Thursday on "The Steve Malzberg Show'' on Newsmax TV.

"For most Jews, economic issues and social issues are more important and on those issues, they tend to be more aligned with the Democrats on issues such as taxes, on healthcare, on abortion.''

Klein said that to the extent that Democratic Jews or Democratic-leaning Jews care about Israel, they define support for the Jewish state differently.

"There was a poll taken last year, and there are majorities of Jewish Democrats who still have faith in a two-state solution, who support an ongoing peace process, who are critical of the construction of settlements,'' he said.

"Whereas [conservatives], when we hear rhetoric of Obama trying to pressure Israel into concessions during the peace process that we know realistically has no chance … [liberals] don't necessarily believe that.

"They still believe this sort of peace rhetoric and even though we know that Jews building homes outside of Jerusalem isn't the threat to the world peace the way that a nuclear Iran is, there are other Jews who see settlements as a problem.''